Unnatural Disasters

Start Time:
4/19/2013 9:00 AM

End Time:
4/19/2013 12:00 PM

Location:
Student Pavilion

Unnatural Disaster Day is a co-curricular event involving students from several disciplines in a public policy forum about a disaster--one in which human actions and policies make the destruction far worse than it might have been even if the disaster is portrayed by the media as "natural." Prior to the event, each participating faculty member guides students in his or her class through a study of the disaster from the faculty member’s disciplinary perspective. Then, on a given day, all classes meet for a two-hour event in which tables are organized to sit one student from each discipline. Students begin by sharing their disciplinary perspective on the disaster and then model democratic decision-making by creating a plan to avoid similar kinds of disasters in the future.